January 4, 2013
This week we will learn about letter “G g”. Our Animated Alphabet character is Griselda Green.
For years, Griselda Green heard stories of the ghosts and goblins that were rumored to haunt the
mansion where she lived. But until Griselda witnessed their ghostly games on Halloween night, Griselda
Green did not believe in ghosts. On Halloween, when Griselda went out to gather grapes from her
garden, she notices a strange glow following her. Suddenly Griselda was gazing at several ghostly
shapes gliding gracefully through the garden gate. At first she was scared, but when she heard the
ghosts giggle, Griselda remembered it was Halloween and decided to join in the ghostly games. Griselda
greeted the ghosts with a grin and the ghost held out his gray glove and invited Griselda to join the
group. Griselda spent the rest of the night gliding through the garden, giggling, grinning and eating
green grapes with the ghosts. As soon as it was daylight, the ghosts disappeared, but Griselda has glad
memories of the fun and hopes that next Halloween she will play with the ghosts again. Griselda’s Sign:
When you see Griselda Green, or the letter “G”, think of gliding with ghosts, hold both arms out like
wings, move in a gliding motion, and say Griselda’s sound. We should have a lot of fun thinking about
Halloween in February. We will talk about ghosts being “make-believe” throughout the week.
Our supporting book for the week is “Space Case” by Edward Marshall. This fun book is about a
thing that came from outer space to have a look around and meets Buddy McGee trick or treating on
Halloween night. Buddy, thinking the thing is a person in a Halloween costume, invites it to spend the
night at his house. He soon realizes the thing is from outer space and takes it with him where ever he
goes. At school Buddy needs a space project and the thing from outer space will do. After school that
day the thing wants to know when they will trick or treat again, and when Billy tells him it’s only once a
year, he goes back to outer space!
Language Time: Riding a Sled
Key Vocabulary: snowing, sled, down, hill, raining, wet, over, umbrella, dry
Our free play activities this week include:
Block Area: We will build with wooden blocks. Large sheets of paper to draw rockets
and space ships will be available.
Dramatic Play Area: We will have our camping area again. We will add an ice pond to
go ice fishing.
Cognitive Activities: We will play the games “Number Farm” and “Letter Dogs”.
Art Table: We will sponge paint letter “G”s on green paper. We will also trace circle
shaped stencils in three different sizes on white paper on a table top with pencils. We will then
use crayons and colored pencils to decorate the snowmen to complete our class mural.
Easel: The children will draw with white chalk on blue paper.
Fine Motor Table: We will work our fine muscles by creating letters with Lite Brites. We
will also use White Boards to practice writing numbers.
Tactile Table: We will work with icebergs and water or snow if we still have some
available.
Activities for the week of January 7-11, 2013
“G g” – Griselda Green- “Space Case” by Edward Marshall
Circle: We will introduce “G g” and Griselda Green’s story, song and sign. We will review
Griselda’s story, song and sign. We will play an alphabet review game. We will talk about the names off
the letters and the sound each letter makes.
We will review Griselda Green then sing “Are You Sleeping?” We will sing the adaptation for “G
g” – “Are you gliding, Griselda Green, Listen to the letter “G”, ging, gong, ging. We will also review the
other character’s adaptations.
We will review Griselda Green’s story, song, sign and sound. We will practice writing the letters
Gg.
Small Group Activities:
Tuesday: We will complete our next edition of Tuesday Newsday then children will sing the
“Bubble Gum song” (a copy is enclosed for you to sing with your child at home). This song encourages
sound play, which is an important pre-reading skill. Sing the song slowly at first and talk with your child
about changing the sounds in each verse. You can show them the changes in the letters, too. After they
have sung the song a few times, they will echo draw and label a gumball machine in their journals.
Thursday: The students will play the fishing game and fish for numbers and letters. They will
write each number or letter on our score sheets as we catch them.
Friday: “In the News”, the children will search for a list of letters in newspapers, then circle the
letters they find with a highlighter then cross them off the list (similar to a grocery list).
Snack: Tuesday: Wheat crackers, grape tomatoes, water
Thursday: Apple slices, milk
Friday: Blackberries, cookies, milk
We were able to purchase 3 books for the Li-Beary Tree, thanks to all that helped.
Look for these books coming soon to the Washington Library: Five Little Monkeys Jump in the
Bath; My Little Numbers Book; National Geographic Kids: Same and Different.
Mrs. Mintzmyer
School (325-2261, ext. 247)
[email protected]